For the first time in Russian (not counting archaic and abridged 19th-century translations), this is one of the major novels by the British classic, whose contemporary popularity in the English-speaking world can be compared only to that of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. 'Trollope kills me with his skill,' Leo Tolstoy wrote in his diary. Augustus Melmotte, Esquire, arrives in London from Paris, the owner of a rumored enormous fortune, capable of 'buying and selling shares to make or break any company,' and even raising or lowering the national currency's value at his own discretion. The financier's past is shrouded in mystery, but it is said that 'he supposedly built a railway across Russia, supplied the Southern army during the Civil War, supplied arms to Austria, and once bought up all the iron in England.' He acquires a mansion on Grosvenor Square and attempts to buy the Pickering Park estate in Sussex, becomes chairman of a major company promising fabulous profits to investors, and runs for parliament. Around him swarm a host of idle aristocrats, greedy nouveau riche, and cunning widows; the empire's most eligible bachelors seek his daughter's hand—but how solid is the foundation of his success? The novel has been adapted for television and radio several times; the most famous is the 2001 BBC miniseries (titled 'The Roads We Take' on Russian television), directed by David Yates (later famous for four Harry Potter films and all the 'fantastic beasts' films). The lead role was played by David Suchet, world-famous as Hercule Poirot in the Agatha Christie's Poirot series (1989–2013).